Subcutaneous ports for the administration of chemotherapy were a significant medical advancement. They are placed in numerous cancer patients every year and are accessed several times per month in many patients. Placement involves a surgical procedure wherein the catheter is placed most commonly into the jugular or subclavian vein and its attached port implanted subcutaneously over the upper chest. Because they are subcutaneous ports are associated with a lower rate of infection compared with intravenous catheter systems which exit the skin such as hickman catheters, triple lumen catheters and peripherally inserted central catheters. Non-coring needles are required to access subcutaneous chemotherapy ports (infusaports) to ensure the septum of the device is not damaged as would occur with a standard beveled needle.
The tip of a Huber needle, which has a reversed bevel design, is very sharp and exposes the clinician to needle stick injuries. These injuries can occur immediately after the needle is removed from its packaging due to its exposed tip in many designs, during insertion into the port and during needle removal from the port. In particular, the removal of Huber needles requires the use of the non-dominant hand of the clinician to stabilize the implanted port, while the needle is withdrawn from the septum. Rebound injuries are common with Huber needles due to the unusual force required to overcome the resistance of the elastic septum. When the resistance is overcome the needle quickly exits the skin and then commonly advances back towards the stabilizing hand resulting in needle puncture of the clinician's finger(s). This rebound effect accounts for a majority of Huber needle stick injuries. The placement and removal of these non-coring needles poses considerable risk to the health care provider due to:                1. the need to locate by palpation and then stabilize the port with the fingers of one hand while introducing the non-coring needle with the opposite hand between the stabilizing finger and        2. the considerable force required to pass the needle through the septum into the port chamber as well as during retraction of the needle from the device.        
Due to the prevalence of blood borne illnesses including Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and hepatitis B and C the risk of contracting a serious illness during the access of subcutaneous ports is of great concern to many health care workers. Inadvertent needle injuries to health care providers are a known risk during access of subcutaneous ports with many of the available needle access systems. The needle system presented herein allows for safe access of subcutaneous ports with little or no risk of inadvertent needle injury to the health care provider.
A subcutaneous port system consists of two parts, a catheter placed into a vein which is connected to a port which is a centrally hollow device. The centrally hollow portion of the port and lumen of the catheter are contiguous. When a needle is placed through the septum of a port into its hollow center, blood can be removed for analysis and medications can be administered directly through the catheter attached to the port into the blood stream. The needles used to penetrate the septum must be of the non-coring variety.